Soul Matters Blog

Join a Conversation about issues that impact on our souls - our happiness, freedom, capacity to make sense of things, sense of love, enjoyment of peace or beauty, and discovery of God.

Each month I write a column titled "Soul Matters" for a local newspaper (The Glenmore Park Gazette) and will post my writing here as the basis for conversation. In between these Gazette articles I will post other short articles on soul matters. Welcome to Gazette readers and others who want to take a deeper journey in life. I encourage you to join the conversation and enrich the rest of us.

Others can wound us, and we can wonder why God doesn’t heal us. But often our freedom and peace will depend on healing or changing something inside of us.

Jesus taught that we live from the inside-out. While we might be treated badly, miss out on something we desire, or face tremendous difficulty, our response will still hinge on what is happening inside us. The injustice might be real but responses like revenge, hatred, bitterness, or striving for love–the things that rob us of peace and joy–point to the need for some inner healing or growth in us. As Jesus said, “out of the heart the mouth speaks”. So when we are rude to someone, respond angrily when we are deprived of something we desire, or lose peace when we are not applauded by others, these actions are speaking about our own heart. Our hurt, pride, insecurity, despair, low self-esteem and so on “reside” inside us and shape our outward life in very real ways. It is natural for us to want to pin the focus on the person who has hurt us, or the unfair circumstances, but our peace and happiness will still require work inside us because this is where the impact of our experiences lasts long after the event.

We can’t control God or others, but we can give God access and permission to be at work inside of us to bring the healing and growth that will release our freedom, peace, and joy. Can you identify areas inside of you that require healing or growth? Ask someone you trust to help you be objective here.

Then the question is: How will I find healing or grow in these areas of my life? To people searching for these things and a better life Jesus said, “Come to me and follow me”.